Jump to content

Good article about Illinois basketball


Recommended Posts

A A Peoria Journal Star article alys out why Illinois has such trouble recruiting:

 

Foremost among the first group are Chris Head, the 2002 champion coach of Chicago Westinghouse who has had about a job a year since and currently coaches no team. Head's claim to coaching friends that Weber called him a racial slur - the big one - is making the Illini coach's name good as mud among those west-side veterans such as Anthony Longstreet (Crane), Wolf Nelson (Farragut) and Lamont Bryant (Marshall).

 

the article goes on to add the Weber disrespected Bryant by not talking to him on a recruiting visit, and Weber's great people-skills lead to 2 CPL coaches to walk out of a Weber clinic.

 

I'll refrain from making a comment because I think the article speaks for itself....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Mar 17, 2007 -> 01:33 PM)
A A Peoria Journal Star article alys out why Illinois has such trouble recruiting:

the article goes on to add the Weber disrespected Bryant by not talking to him on a recruiting visit, and Weber's great people-skills lead to 2 CPL coaches to walk out of a Weber clinic.

 

I'll refrain from making a comment because I think the article speaks for itself....

 

first, i don't believe for a second that weber called head that. i'm a huge cpl supporter and a cpl alum, but i just don't believe that.

 

as for the rest, it is simply rehashing old material. it is clear weber needs to do some work in this area. the story about sherron collins and kansas's midnight madness showed that this staff was largely clueless when it came to recruiting the city off the bat. i believe they've learned some things since then, but more needs to be done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Mar 17, 2007 -> 08:33 AM)
A A Peoria Journal Star article alys out why Illinois has such trouble recruiting:

 

the article goes on to add the Weber disrespected Bryant by not talking to him on a recruiting visit, and Weber's great people-skills lead to 2 CPL coaches to walk out of a Weber clinic.

 

I'll refrain from making a comment because I think the article speaks for itself....

Wow, that is totally ironic. I was wondering why the Illini were having such a hard time recruiting, and this seems to answer it.

 

It makes sense, and Weber needs to go. He is overrated as a coach. Self built the team that Weber got all the praise for in 03/04 and 04/05. You can see the drop off started when Self's players left for the NBA (Williams, Head, etc). Just look at the Salukis, Weber leaves and they get better. Coincidence?

Edited by RME JICO
Link to comment
Share on other sites

also, i'm sure a lot of people will click on this thread, not read the article, and start drawing broad conclusions. here are a few quotes from the story that should not be dismissed:

 

"Those of us in the know in Chicago know that (not getting patrick beverley) was not entirely (Weber's) fault," said one professed member of the (cpl coaching) new guard. "I've never had a college call about a player and not ask for a transcript. Just get them the transcript.

 

"I'm not one of these Public League coaches who supposedly has a problem with Weber. I don't know anyone . . where does that idea even come from? The media."

 

Good news for Weber and his staff is that Simeon coach Robert Smith is a "new guard" guy warm to the Illini. The endless stream of prospects from Simeon includes another super freshman, Rob Robinson, said to be best friends with Jereme Richmond, the top-rated freshman in Illinois, who has given Weber an extraordinarily early oral commitment.

 

these quotes aren't to suggest that weber doesn't have problems. they are just not the problems people seem to want to suggest.

 

i've said many, many times in the past that people who project the city as one entity don't understand the reality of the situation. this story would support that theory.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think that this is true at all. Weber might be a bad recruiter, but he's not that idiotic (even though that story on why he didn't invite Sherron Collins to Midnight Madness is comical). However, this is bad press, as this type of thing will be used against him even when recruiting out of the city. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to.....I've been saying this story for 2 years now, so it's not like I'm making this up to fit this new story.

Edited by fathom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

here is a follow up story to the first piece

 

among the items here:

-the "walk out" story is a myth. didn't happen.

-both wolf nelson and lamont bryant have things to say about weber here, although probably not what you'd think.

-there have been acknowledged issues with longstreet, whom weber has not spoken to since the collins recruitment.

-as i've said all along, people trying to paint the cpl as a lone entity don't know what they are talking about.

 

enjoy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE(thedoctor @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 07:07 AM)
-as i've said all along, people trying to paint the cpl as a lone entity don't know what they are talking about.

 

Of course it's not, you have to pay to get most good players EVERYWHERE in this nation. To say it's only like that in the CPL is crazy. Bruce is never going to be able to get players out of that league though, regardless of what that article says.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 02:25 PM)
Of course it's not, you have to pay to get most good players EVERYWHERE in this nation. To say it's only like that in the CPL is crazy. Bruce is never going to be able to get players out of that league though, regardless of what that article says.

 

to say he will "never" get a kid out of the cpl overlooks the fact he got the best kid in the city three years ago. i'll grant you that brock wasn't a top-shelf five-star kid, but never is all-encompassing. perhaps you'd like to clarify.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE(thedoctor @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 08:43 AM)
to say he will "never" get a kid out of the cpl overlooks the fact he got the best kid in the city three years ago. i'll grant you that brock wasn't a top-shelf five-star kid, but never is all-encompassing. perhaps you'd like to clarify.

 

Brock was a VERY VERY late bloomer, and didn't have skills that translated well to the major college ball level, thus the interest from other schools was limited. He wasn't going to get anybody paid and Illinois was the biggest school that wanted him, thus he came to Champaign. The one thing I will say though is Simeon is a good place to try if Illinois want to in the city, their coach is one of the few decent guys in the CPL and Illinois has a great history at getting players out of there.

Edited by whitesoxfan101
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...